Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in January fell 10 per cent compared with December.
The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came it at 223,589 units for the first month of the year compared with 248,968 for December 2023.
The decrease came as the annual pace of urban housing starts fell 11 per cent to 208,119 units, with the pace of multi-unit urban starts down 14 per cent at 164,789 units and single-detached urban starts up 0.08 per cent at 43,330 units.
The annual rate of housing starts in Toronto were up 179 per cent, boosted by an increase in multi-unit starts, however Montreal fell 28 per cent and Vancouver dropped 55 per cent due to drops in multi-unit starts.
The annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 15,470.
The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts in January was 244,827, down two per cent from 249,757 units in December 2023.
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